Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Thursday. STI rose 0.4%; Alibaba HK SDR 5to1 up 4.6%; Sembcorp Industries up 1.4%; Sats Ltd up 1.3%; UOB up 0.8%; Keppel DC Reit down 1.4%.

Stocks to Watch

DBS Group: DBS Group Holdings Ltd. raised Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta’s total remuneration for 2024 by 56%, citing the bank’s record profits, standout wealth business and strengthened technology.

Mandarin Oriental International: The hotelier posted an underlying profit of US$74.7 million for the financial year 2024, down US$81 million from a year earlier. This translates to a full-year underlying loss of 8 per cent. The group attributed the loss to lower one-off residences branding fees, which more than offset the strong growth in recurring hotel management fee income. Loss per share was US$0.0622, compared with US$0.2891 the year before. A dividend of US$0.05 per share was declared, the same as the previous year. The counter closed flat at US$1.82 on Wednesday, before the financial results.

Sats: The ground handler will invest S$100 million over the next two years to upgrade terminals in the Changi Airfreight Centre as part of plans to improve Singapore’s air cargo hub, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat at his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate on Wednesday. This is separate from Budget 2025’s S$5 billion top-up for the Changi Airport Development Fund. The upgrades are set to raise cargo handling capacity by 30 per cent to three million tonnes a year. Shares of Sats closed on Wednesday 0.3 per cent or S$0.01 lower at S$3.07.

SG Local News

Singapore Retail Sales up 4.5% in January, Swinging from Year-End Decline

Singapore’s retail sales rose 4.5 per cent year on year in January, swinging from the year-end decline in the lead up to Chinese New Year, data from the Singapore Department of Statistics (SingStat) showed on Wednesday (Mar 5).

Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales went up 4.8 per cent year on year, compared with a decrease of 4 per cent in December.

SingStat noted that the improvement in overall retail sales was partly due to Chinese New Year being celebrated in January this year. In December, retail sales fell 2.9 per cent year on year.

Singapore Government Will Raise HDB Income Ceilings

The Singapore government will continue to keep an eye on income growth and conditions in the local property market, and will raise income ceilings "when the time is right”, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on Wednesday (Mar 5).

Mr Lee was responding to questions raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) on the possibility of raising eligibility income ceilings for Build-to-Order (BTO) flats and executive condominiums.